


Not a Housecat

by Kalloway



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, KH2-Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 15:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20010463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: Sora has gotten stuck as a lion cub and Donald's magic hasn't been able to turn him back. Hoping for Merlin's help, the trio head to Radiant Garden... and Leon ends up with a houseguest... not a housecat.





	Not a Housecat

**Author's Note:**

> Originally started for a Kingdom Hearts big bang that had to be abandoned-- finally finished for this event. ^_^ (A very old idea!)

As the trio drew close to Leon's house, Sora started to hang back a bit. His surroundings looked frustratingly different than what he was used to. But he... was also frustratingly different from what he was used to. That was the problem. 

It possibly wasn't the biggest problem they'd faced, but certainly, it was...

"Sora, c'mon," Goofy called, gesturing for Sora to at least try to catch up. 

Sora nodded and took a couple of extra steps. He wished he could reply. But even that had been taken from him and there wasn't anything Donald had tried that had helped. 

And anyone other than Leon would be preferable -- Sora was sure of this. But Donald and Goofy had it in their heads that Leon made the most sense. Maybe he did, but really, nothing about the situation was going to be good, and...

He nearly crashed into Donald, who had stopped. So had Goofy. They were there? Leon's house looked different from where he was standing, which was very significantly... lower than he'd ever previously stood. 

Scooting behind Donald and Goofy, he sat and waited. There was simply silence, and then Donald started tapping a foot. Then his hands moved to his sides and just before Sora was expecting some sort of outburst, Leon opened the door. Or, at least, Sora assumed it was Leon. He was hiding. 

"Donald? Goofy?" Yes, it was definitely Leon. 

"We've got a problem," Donald said flatly, gesturing to his side, where Sora very definitely was. Inching in the other direction, he attempted to hide wholly behind Goofy, but it didn't work and after a quick moment and a glare, Donald managed to side-step enough that Sora was clearly visible. 

He stared up at Leon, and Leon stared back. 

"Sora?" Leon questioned, blinking a couple times and looking wholly unsure if he was going to laugh or facepalm or both. Surprisingly, he did neither. Instead, he dropped down onto his knees and reached. "What happened?"

Sora opened his mouth, forgetting he couldn't talk and distracted by how wrinkled Leon looked. But it was probably early. Leon had probably been asleep. 

"Mmrrrwwww."

"He can't really talk, y'see," Goofy interjected. "We, ah, all transformed back on the last world but for some reason, Sora didn't change back with us."

"It's not my fault!" Donald interjected quickly. "Anyway, we were hoping he could stay here while we go see Merlin. It shouldn't take..."

"Merlin isn't in town," Leon interrupted flatly. "He said he'd be back in a couple of weeks."

Sora froze. Weeks? Hours had been bad enough. But weeks? There was no way. He couldn't be stuck as a lion cub for weeks. Not when he couldn't communicate. Not when this wasn't a world where being a big cat was normal. Well... being a non-talking, non-clothing-wearing cat...

"Then we'll have to go find Yen Sid," Donald announced. "Sora can stay with you."

"With me?" Leon questioned. "He can't get changed back if..."

Sora was torn. The thought of being on their Gummi Ship again, like this, was horrendous. It simply wasn't made for someone with four legs, no arms and no real ability to manipulate controls. Besides, his inability to communicate properly was infuriating at best. So...

Luckily, Goofy managed to say that exact thing, and almost succinctly. Sora managed to nod in there, and finally, Leon nodded. 

"Fine. If it's fine with Sora."

The best thing Sora could think to do was lift a paw. And carefully, Leon reached and shook it. 

"Go find a way to change him back," Leon said, gesturing that really, Donald and Goofy were just wasting time at this point. "We'll figure something out on this end."

"We'll be back as soon as we can, Sora," Goofy said. 

"And we'll get you right back to how you should be," Donald added.

Sora didn't doubt that at all. But until that day... 

~*~

"You're fully aware, aren't you?" Leon asked, gesturing that Sora could hop up on the sofa to sit. 

Sora nodded as best he could. He was definitely still himself, just stuck in the wrong body. Maybe it'd be better if he thought he was a lion or something. Would be less embarrassing. Even if Donald didn't bother with pants, he rather wanted to have something on. Though he'd have no way to get them off again. 

"I'm not sure if that's better or worse," Leon replied, leaning back. Sora wondered how Leon was reading his mind. 

"Even if it's only for a day or so, we'll have to figure out a better way to communicate," Leon continued. "You can make those little noises, at least. And can tap your paws. So we can figure out at least a yes-and-no system."

"Mmrrww," Sora managed. Hopefully that would be taken as an affirmative. 

"Once is yes, twice is no?" Leon surmised. Yes, that sounded like a plan. And Sora honestly couldn't wait to be able to actually tell Leon how grateful he was that Leon was being so understanding. And treating him almost normally. Because he had seen Leon very nearly reach to pet him. 

Nodding again, Sora did another little mrww and then settled. It was going to be a fairly dull conversation, he had to admit, if he couldn't talk. Leon wasn't much of a talker, either, which meant...

"Are you tired?" Leon questioned. "It's... pretty early and I'm guessing you had a long trip here."

"Mmrrww..." Sora wasn't sure he was truly tired, but sleeping would at least kill some time. He'd been so wound up that he was fairly sure that once he stopped, he'd be out. He'd been so very worried about getting back to normal that he'd ignored everything else. 

"I don't really have a guest room," Leon continued. "But my bed should still be warm and I can find an extra blanket for you. I'll stay up and let you have some privacy."

Sora didn't move immediately, which was fine because it seemed Leon wanted to keep talking. 

"I can't begin to imagine what you're thinking, but you don't look happy at all. But Donald and Goofy are doing their best and I'm sure that if you could be turned in one direction, you have to be able to be turned back," Leon said. "Anyway..."

He stood and gestured for Sora to follow. Sora hadn't been all the way through Leon's house before and was thankful for Leon pointing out things, even if the comments were...

"Kitchen is that way - we'll figure that out when we get there. Room that should be the guest room is there, but it's filled with some stuff of Yuffie's and I don't know why. Bathroom is there--" Leon paused and looked back at Sora, who was trotting along behind him. Leon looked interesting from below. Far taller. 

Sora hoped he was managing to wince. He was certainly trying. 

"Hopefully you can figure out the bathroom stuff on your own," Leon said. "If not, well, we'll figure something out. Anyway, the bedroom is back here..."

Leon's bedroom was sparse and dark, but it looked like a good room for sleeping, at least.

"Sorry it's a little messy," Leon admitted, glancing around once. "Wasn't expecting company." He quickly grabbed a few things from the floor and heaved them at a basket in the corner before moving to straighten the bed. 

"I'll leave the door cracked so you can come and go," Leon said after a moment. Sora had sat back on his haunches to watch. He wanted to help or apologize or... anything, really, but there was just nothing. 

"I don't know if you could do door-handles," Leon continued, before pausing to think. "Only other door I ever close is to the basement, though, and I don't even really like going down there."

He gave a little pat on the bed and Sora nodded before jumping up onto it. It was softer than he was expecting - for some reason he figured Leon would have a bed like a rock. Or multiple lumpy rocks. 

Turning once, Sora tried to figure out the best way to sleep. No matter what, he seemed to be on his legs wrong and he rolled once and--

He paused when Leon started chuckling. 

"Sorry," Leon said quickly, coughing a couple of times. He was holding a throw blanket that he must have gotten out of the now-open closet. "You can let me have it when you're back to normal, but that was kinda... cute, I suppose."

Perhaps, Sora thought, he could sleep under the bed. That might be better. But he let Leon tuck the blanket over him and he didn't move again til Leon had left the room. 

Sora couldn't help what he looked like, after all. Or that he couldn't get comfortable. He didn't want to get comfortable. He wanted to be back in his own body.

And yet somehow, once he was alone in the dark, warm room, sleep didn't elude him for long.

~*~

Sora wasn't sure if it was the smell of food or the rumbling of his stomach that woke him up, but combined, he was starving and there was no point in sleeping if there was food to eat!

Jumping up, he was momentarily confused about where his legs were and arms and right... those weren't something he really had which made it difficult to untangle from the blanket Leon had given him and get to the floor without...

Falling facefirst out of bed. 

At least no one had seen him. 

Shaking it off, Sora trotted over to the door and hooked a paw in the gap between door and frame to pull it open enough to squeeze through. 

Leon didn't see him at first, until he managed a rather embarrassing mrowr that very much said he was hungry.

"Evening, sleepyhead," Leon commented as he looked over at where Sora was standing by the door. "This is dinner. So... you must have really needed the sleep."

Sora blinked - he'd slept the whole day away? The entire thing... He looked up to the window over Leon's kitchen sink and sure enough, the sun was low on the horizon. 

"It's takeout," Leon continued, gesturing at his dinner. "Homemade, but takeout. Figured it might be safer for you than letting me cook."

He chuckled and began to get Sora a bowl of... whatever it was that smelled so good. 

"Stew," Leon added after a quick moment. "Wasn't sure if you have... a lion diet now or what, but I think it'll be okay."

Sora tried three little mrowrs, which hopefully could mean 'I have no idea, I've never been stuck as a lion before.' 

Leon nodded. "I figured." 

He was holding the bowl and sort of wincing. 

"I'm not feeding you on the floor," he said quickly. "So either you can try to get up on a chair or the counter or something. I don't care how messy it'll be--"

Sora really wished they'd worked something out that mean 'thank you so much you have no idea.' But all he could do was nod and make an attempt at one of the kitchen chairs. But somewhere between getting his paws up on it and getting his hind... paws up on it, there was some sort of body volume error and... down he went. 

"You okay?" Leon asked, crouching down. 

Fine, Sora wanted to say, aside from his pride. 

"Mrrr."

"Hang on," Leon said, before bending down to rummage in one of the cabinets. There was a crash, and Leon mumbled something under his breath, but a moment later he pulled out a low tray with legs. 

"Well, it's probably still the floor," Leon admitted as he unfolded the legs and set it down. "Technically, but..."

Sora really didn't care - Leon's kitchen floor wasn't terrifying and while he understood Leon's sentiment and appreciated it, he was more hungry than anything and just wanted to get the meal over with.

What he wasn't expecting, after Leon had set the stew bowl down, was for Leon to settled on the floor himself, cross-legged and leaning back on the cupboard doors. 

"I think it's pretty tasty," Leon said. "And no, I haven't heard anything from your partners. I'm sure by now every other mage in town knows about your predicament, however, and will hopefully be stopping by with actual solutions and not just curiosity."

"Mrrrrrr..." Sora was trying to sort of lap up the stew, with moderate success. There was no neat way to do it, unfortunately, and he was sure he had stew on his nose. The good news was that the stew was tasty and seemed to be something he could eat. 

"The only one you won't be able to avoid is Aerith," Leon continued. "But at least she won't laugh."

Sora glanced over at Leon.

"Yuffie probably will," Leon noted. He frowned and got up, and before Sora could really figure out what he was doing, he had filled a bowl with water and put it beside the stew.

"Mrrrrrrrrrr." Yes, Sora really needed something to mean 'thank you so many times, Leon, you don't even know.'

~*~ 

Thankfully Leon left him alone to figure out how to handle excursions to the bathroom, which weren't at all bad after mostly trial and little error. Sora hoped he didn't need a bath, but he couldn't really smell himself and figured if he smelled too bad, Leon would say something. Of course, he was fairly sure smelling like wet fur might be worse, and there was no point in trying that unless another couple of days passed before he was changed back.

He wasn't expecting to be tired, but once he saw Leon settled on the living room sofa, reading, he thought that maybe he could use a little more downtime. Besides, sleeping had made an entire day vanish on him. Hopefully it could keep working that way.

Sora hopped up onto the sofa easily enough and managed to arrange himself so that he was laying decently and not putting his claws into anything. 

"Mrrrrowr?"

Leon reached and almost absently ruffled the fur on Sora's head. He didn't apologize. 

"Aerith gave it to me," Leon said before setting the book down flat on the sofa so that Sora could see it. "Not the best story I've ever read, but one of the characters is named 'Leon' too, so I guess she thought I might find it interesting."

"Mmmrrr." Sora didn't think reading would be too boring, but he also didn't think he could hold a book. And even if he had one that would sit flat, it would be difficult to turn the pages. 

"I'm only on the third chapter," Leon noted as he picked the book up. "I'm not used to reading out loud, but I could give it a shot."

"Mrrr..." Sora nodded, before settling again.

Of course, Leon didn't get too terribly far into the story before Sora thought maybe he could keep listening with his eyes closed. It would take his mind off being a lion, at least. Even if he felt kinda fuzzy. 

Or maybe the fuzziness was...

~*~

He only semi-woke when Leon carried him to bed and tucked him in.

~*~

Sora's second morning as a lion cub was only somewhat better than his first - yes, it had the added bonus of not having Donald cursing and casting an innumerable amount of spells on him, but he was very much still a lion cub. He'd hoped, perhaps, the spell would somehow wear off in the night and he'd awake in his proper body, ready to greet the day. 

And Leon. 

Sora was fairly sure he'd be indebted to Leon forever - Leon who was sleeping without expression beside him, body posture implying nothing. 

He hopped down from the bed, arching and stretching, before hooking a paw in the door and opening it. Hopefully he hadn't woken Leon. Pausing in the hallway, he waited, but after a few seconds he heard nothing, so he assumed the coast was clear. 

It looked like a nice morning, from the living room picture window, as Sora stood up and put his front paws on the windowsill to peer out. The sun was shining, the sky was a beautiful shade of blue, and... he was stuck as a lion. 

Deflated, Sora sank back down onto his haunches and attempted to sigh. 

After a long moment where he tried not to feel sorry for himself, Sora wandered into the kitchen. Leon had left a bowl of water out, on the legged-tray, but it was warm and didn't look terribly appealing. There wasn't too much on the counter, however, and after a minute of negotiating angles and one false-start, Sora launched himself up and managed to stay, though he didn't think the upper-cabinets were as low as they were. That or he'd grown. Still, it was easy enough to get the tap on and drink once he'd gotten himself into position. Not so bad. Not anything he'd want to do often, especially if he was growing...

The thought of being a full-grown lion stuck in Leon's house was not appealing. 

"Not bad." 

Sora glanced quickly over to where Leon was standing in the doorframe, wearing only the bottoms of his pajamas. He looked nearly awake, but Sora could only assume a pot of coffee would bridge the gap. 

"It's okay," Leon continued. "And no, you didn't wake me up." 

Sora batted the faucet off, and jumped down off the counter. Breakfast would be good, in short time, though he felt bad that he couldn't really help out with the preparation at all. 

"Did you sleep alright?" Leon questioned, before heading over to a cupboard to pull out a canister of coffee. 

"Mrrowr," Sora replied. 'Yes, very well, thanks. I hope I didn't snore.'

"That's good. I... think I have the makings of biscuits and gravy in the freezer," Leon replied. "Let me get a cup of coffee first, though. I want to be semi-awake by the time Aerith and Yuffie get here."

"Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..." Sora had thought that they might be stopping by at some point perhaps, not as a definite. 

"You can't really expect them to not come see you," Leon reminded him. "Though most of the day should be quiet. If you can help me figure out when you fell asleep, I can read you a bit more of the book, too. Do you recall anything after that first rescue?"

"Mmrr---Mrrrowr," Sora admitted, shaking his head. He wasn't sure he'd gotten all of the way through that, but rescues were rescues and the story was interesting and he didn't want Leon to have to wait for him. 

"Didn't think so," Leon replied as he started up the coffee maker. "I read a bit farther ahead, I have to admit. But... it's a good story." 

He smiled. 

"Might be a world you get to go see someday."

'Not if I'm stuck like this,' Sora thought. He just sort of whine-sighed and settled with his head down on his front paws. At least he could still somewhat emote his frustration. 

~*~

Aerith and Yuffie arrived not long after Leon had finished washing their breakfast dishes. Sora's first reaction was to hide behind Leon, but he didn't linger there. If there was any chance that Aerith could help him, well, he'd take it. 

"I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but..." Aerith shook her head before kneeling down to hold out a hand to Sora. 

"He's not a cat," Leon reminded her. "No matter what he looks like, that's the Sora we know."

"Well I'm not about to start poking at him without his permission," Aerith retorted before looking Sora in the eyes. "And I can pet you, right?"

"Mmmrrowr." Yes, Aerith could pet him. A little, at least. 

"That's a 'yes'," Leon noted before explaining their shorthand. 

"You could do all sorts of fun stuff like that," Yuffie noted, not wasting any further time and sitting down beside him, cross-legged on the living room floor. "No one would suspect you."

Sora could see that Leon wanted to facepalm. He wished he could laugh. Aerith ruffled the tufty fur on the top of his head and then settled onto her knees to look him over. 

He wasn't really sure what Aerith was looking for, but she seemed to know what she was doing, so he stood there, waiting. 

"You are pretty cute like that," she finally commented, smiling and giving him another little ruffle. "Leon's right, though. I'd probably spend all day petting you if you were staying with me."

"Mrrr...." All of that and Aerith had just been looking him over for pet-potential? 

"I suppose being a lion would be a little conspicuous at first," Yuffie continued. "But it wouldn't be that bad. You could get into small places, and people would tell secrets in front of you, and..."

Aerith closed her eyes and whispered a few words that Sora missed. He felt her magic, though, warm and calming as it washed over him. It was markedly different from Donald's magic, or even his own, which of course he couldn't use at present. It was different from the small spells that he knew Leon could cast, and from the overwhelmingly powerful spells of magicians like Merlin. 

The spell ended quickly, and Aerith rocked back onto her heels, shaking her head. 

"I think I understand it," she said as she looked up at Leon. "But I can't undo it. Not right now, anyway. I have a couple of books that might help, but if Donald couldn't find a solution, I don't really know if it'd be worth it for me to try."

Sora's heart sank. He... hadn't really been expecting Aerith to be able to do much of anything, but he hadn't expected her to be so blunt about it, either.

Aerith looked back to him, seemingly able to read his thoughts. 

She reached to put her hand on one of his front paws. 

"Sorry, Sora," she said. "I didn't mean it like that. I'll definitely try."

Hugging her, in hindsight, was not a good idea. Pouncing, Aerith fell back and Sora sort of flopped onto her. Luckily, it wasn't a hard fall at all and after a stunned moment, Aerith put her arms around him and laughed. 

Yuffie started laughing, too. And even Leon joined in, though Sora could tell his reactions were much more restrained. 

~*~

Sora's second day as a lion ended not unlike his first, though he slept with his head on Aerith's lap for most of the evening while she flipped through a large, somewhat musty text while absently stroking his stomach. 

He thought it should have been awkward, but... it really wasn't that bad. 

~*~

"I have an idea," Aerith said the next day. She and Yuffie had insisted on sleeping over, and had insisted on Sora sleeping between them. Sora hadn't been terribly sure about that, until Aerith and Yuffie had emerged wearing far more to sleep in than they normally did to go about town. 

"Mmm?" Leon frowned. Sora wasn't terribly sure if it was the idea of Aerith having an idea that upset him, or if it had been sleeping on the sofa. 

"Let's go see Tron," Aerith said firmly. "Maybe inside the computer, Sora will be back to his normal self."

Sora blinked a couple of times. That wasn't a half bad idea. It wasn't a fix, but it was something. He could at least talk like an equal and thank everyone for everything they were doing for him. 

"Mrrrrowr!"

"That's... actually not a bad idea," Leon admitted. 

"If it works," Aerith added before giving Sora a sympathetic little wince. "I mean, I can't promise anything. But if we can talk a bit, I should be able to get a better idea about where to even begin to look for a cure."

"Mrrrrr," Sora agreed. It sounded like it was worth a try.

"Don't suppose you have a collar, do you, Sora?" Yuffie asked. "Don't want you to get picked up as a stray."

Sora froze. Of course he had a collar. It was a silver chain with... 

He reached with one paw to hook it. And again. But it wasn't there. 

"Mmroowr, mrooooorrr..."

"You had one?" Yuffie questioned, watching him kick and then suddenly look around for it. 

"Not since he's been here," Leon said with a headshake. 

Aerith frowned. "We can look around later for it. But for now..."

She reached and untied the pink ribbon from her hair and then knelt to tie it loosely around Sora's neck. Sora didn't protest - he was just a lion after all. No one would tease him about it later. 

Except maybe all of them.

~*~

"I believe I can do that," Tron replied to Aerith's query. "Do you all want to come inside?"

"I'll stay out here," Yuffie replied. "Just in case. It's okay."

Leon gave her a strange little look, but didn't say a word. 

Sora wondered if she was going to use the chance to rummage around in things, which seemed the most likely. He really wouldn't mind exploring with her a bit - she seemed to be really good at it. 

Wasting no time at getting into position, it was a relief to Sora to be transported inside the computer. Even more of one when he opened his eyes and saw he had hands, not paws. 

A moment later, Leon and Aerith were standing beside him, surprised and smiling. 

"Perfect," Aerith commented. "Thankfully."

"You have no idea," Sora replied, shaking his head as he flexed his fingers and stomped his feet and just generally reveled in everything being the way it was supposed to be. 

"I've been trying to imagine," Leon admitted. "I'm... sorry if I've done anything--"

Shaking his head, Sora interrupted him right away. "No, you're doing a good job. I'm... really grateful, actually. I mean, it's been awkward and kinda awful but not because of you. I just..."

"So you had a collar?" Aerith questioned. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but if it's a lead..."

"Yes," Sora said firmly, gesturing to his neck. "Like the necklace I usually wear, but as a collar. I don't... have it."

Aerith nodded. "That might be part of it. If every part of you involved in the original transformation isn't there, changing back will be a problem. Still... it's just a necklace..." Sora could tell she was thinking hard but sort of at a loss. 

He knew enough magic, but nothing complex that didn't just do damage in the end. The complicated stuff was left to Donald. And Donald hadn't even really screwed up. It just depending on where his necklace was, or if Yen Sid knew a spell that would work even without it. 

"We'll just have to go find it, I suppose," Sora said. "Well, if Donald and Goofy didn't figure anything out." He winced-- he couldn't help himself. The thought of remaining as a lion cub wasn't pleasant, but he couldn't really stay inside the computer, either. 

"It'll be okay," Aerith said softly, giving him a little neon smile. "Now that we have some idea of the cause, you won't be stuck like that for too much longer."

"And we can come here every day for a bit," Leon added. "It's nice to be able to have an actual conversation."

Sora nodded. "Yeah, really. Though... it's all been okay, don't worry. It's not really fun, but it's not unbearable. Just... frustrating when I want to thank you for something and can't. And I've really wanted to thank you both."

He rambled on for a bit longer, until Aerith hugged him and Leon just nodded. Okay, he'd made his point. 

As much as he wondered if he could just stay inside the computer, Sora didn't think he could do that either. Which meant they might as well go back. 

And he'd again be stuck as a lion. 

~*~

Sora settled his head on his paws, listening to Leon's voice as Leon continued along with the book they'd been reading. So far, the rag-tag band of rebels were on another strange quest, but it wasn't bad. Sora thought it seemed a bit like what he'd been doing, though instead of the childhood friends he always thought he'd have along for a grand adventure, he had Donald and Goofy. He couldn't ask for better friends, really, but he did find himself missing Kairi and Riku. Riku would probably just laugh at his predicament. Kairi would probably pet him and giggle and try to dress him up. 

At least Aerith had taken her ribbon back and promised to try to find him something more fitting for the next day. 

They had collectively decided to give Donald and Goofy three more days to return, before taking matters into their own hands. Three days would be okay, Sora thought. It would possibly give him time to listen to the rest of the book and go exploring with Yuffie, which really did sound sort of fun. He'd been fine with his body while in the Pride Lands, after all -- this wasn't entirely different. Same body, same abilities, different setting. 

He didn't really think there was anything about the story that was boring, or that Leon was bad at reading out loud. But... he did seem to have a unique ability to put Sora to sleep. Just before the exciting part, too. Or at least it seemed like it. Sora tried to keep his eyes open, but he couldn't fight it. Maybe he needed the same amount of sleep as a housecat, which was all day. In that case, he'd definitely been awake for far too long. 

~*~

"I suppose if we need to, we can see about borrowing or renting a ship," Aerith said at the end of the third day. There had been no sign of Donald or Goofy and while Sora was definitely getting used to life as a lion, he still didn't want to spend his whole life as one. Especially not after he and Yuffie had gotten especially dirty and he'd needed to be bathed. That was just... 

The less said about that, the better, Sora thought. 

"Cid will have something. Sora and I will go and start looking for his collar, and maybe we can catch up with Donald and Goofy along the way," Leon added. 

"Mrrw," Sora replied. It was as good a plan as any, though honestly he'd wanted Donald and Goofy to return from visiting Yen Sid and have another way. Searching the Pride Lands might take forever. Literally. He'd been everywhere... 

"In the morning, then," Leon said. The sky was nearly dark and, after a few pleasantries and Aerith ruffling the tuft of fur on Sora's head, she left to head home. 

They had only a few more chapters of the book to finish, but Sora wasn't surprised when he fell asleep before the end anyway. 

As usual, Leon scooped him up and carried him to bed. At least he'd figured out how to sleep comfortably, without twisting around a dozen times. 

Leon had assured him that he didn't snore, either. 

~*~

Just after Leon had finished up the breakfast dishes, there was a furious banging at the front door. Sora bounded over to it and sat, still unable to do anything with doorknobs. Leon followed behind and, after unlocking the deadbolt, opened it up. 

There stood Donald and Goofy, both looking impressively expectant. 

"Sora!" Goofy exclaimed. 

"We figured it out," Donald added. "Well, mostly Yen Sid figured it out but we helped." 

"We just had to find you this," Goofy said as he produced Sora's collar from his pocket. "The problem was mostly that we didn't know what was gone and we had to really think about it." 

"His collar!" Leon nodded and then gestured for Goofy and Donald to come in. 

"Yen Sid conjured up an image of how you were doing and you didn't have the right collar," Donald explained. 

"I made him one from one of my old belts." Leon had done a good job with it, too, but it was only for outside and not for sleeping or eating. Sora didn't like the feel. 

"We were on our way to the Pride Lands to look when we something outside the ship started making noise," Donald continued. "Your necklace had snagged on a loose panel." 

"Mrrw." Sora put his head down. 'I totally forgot about that, but it makes sense. I thought something looked funny and it was hard to check out as a lion and then I got stuck and...' 

"Anyway, let's see if this works." 

With Goofy and Donald ushered inside, Leon closed the door and Sora inched over to Goofy. 

Goofy held out the collar again and gestured to where the a ring on the catch had been nudged back together. 

Had all this happened because of that? Sora tried to sigh. 

But he held still while Goofy put the chain back around his neck and Donald grabbed for his wand. 

Over the last nearly-week, he'd had so much magic cast on him that Sora almost didn't expect anything to happen. The transformation felt strange, happening in Leon's living room, but there it was... Just like in the computer, he had hands again, shoes on his feet, and-- 

"It worked!" 

Sora beamed as he looked at his hands, down at his clothing-- Then he smiled at Donald, at Goofy, and at Leon, who also had an odd smile on his face. 

There was a sudden banging at the door again, but before Leon could move, both Yuffie and Aerith half-tumbled in. 

"We saw the Gummi ship," Yuffie said quickly. "Sora!" 

"I'm back," he replied. And unable to help himself, he pulled both women into a hug. Both hugged him back. He was not surprised when Aerith reached to ruffle his hair. 

Once he let go, she also reached to touch his necklace. 

"So it was this..." 

"It fell off and got stuck outside the ship," Goofy explained. 

"Lotta trouble for a necklace," Donald grumbled. 

"Your magic helped," Leon reminded him. 

Sora just laughed. "I'm just glad to be me again. This me." 

He hugged Leon as well-- and was only a little surprised when Leon hugged back. 

~*~

Both Donald and Goofy wanted to rest and buy a few things in town, which Sora understood. He just wanted to run around and be himself. Maybe drink a glass of water or something, but most of all... 

"Leon?" he asked. Leon gave him an odd look, as if he didn't quite understand why Sora was still there but not upset about it either. 

"Can we finish the story?" 

Leon chuckled softly. 

"Make yourself comfortable," he replied. 

And, after getting himself a glass of water, Sora did.


End file.
